Departmental Consultants

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the  (a) average and  (b) highest daily rate paid to consultants by his Department was in each of the last five years.

Bob Neill: As consultancy contracts are often paid at a fixed price and are output based we cannot quote an average daily rate. The highest rate paid on a cost volume contract (with a total contract value exceeding £20,000) in 2009-10 was £2,143 per day. This was a director rate for ad hoc work, this relates to the contract with PQ consulting for FireControl.
	Figures for earlier years could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.